Vang Vieng, Laos – 22 to 28 February, 2007
We booked a VIP bus from Vientiane to Vang Vieng based on the marketing material at the guesthouse saying it was air conditioned and cold water and a snack were provided on the trip. We were dubious of the water and snack, but as it was only around a four hour trip and it was sure to be air conditioned it should be OK. A tuk-tuk picked us up at the hotel the next morning and drove us the few blocks to the location the VIP bus left from. On arrival we knew it would be an interesting trip when they started hoisting everyone’s luggage to the roof of the bus instead of putting it in compartments underneath. We had seen many local busses with everything from beer to motocycles lashed to the roof and people hanging out the doors and windows, but surely this would be different as it was a VIP bus after all.
As we soon found, the only thing VIP about this bus was in the marketing posters. Three or four people who hesitated to board the bus until the last minute (they needed that last cigarette) found themselves sitting on small plastic stools placed in the aisle. At least the bus was air conditioned. The only problem is it was never turned on once the bus left the departure point. We weren’t sure of the logic other than maybe it saved on gas, as we did have to stop for fuel shortly after beginning the trip. We never did see any cold water or snacks, but we were well prepared with our own goody bag or snacks and water.
Fortunately there were no major surprises on the trip, and we arrived pretty much on time. Like many of the tourist oriented busses operated by travel agencies and guest houses, this one stopped at one of their affiliated guesthouses, which also happened to be the end of the line. As we usually don’t have reservations in advance, we will check them out as they are sometimes a good deal. As J waited for the bags to be handed down from the roof of the bus, D checked out a bungalow with a view of the river. She said OK to the $15 price as it was livable and we didn’t want to have to hike our bags and find another place. This turned out to be a great decision and one of our favorite stops on the entire trip so far.
Vang Vieng is a small town located on the Nam Xong River. It is a favorite backpacker party haunt noted for the tubing on the river and all the bars with blaring TVs in the few square blocks of the main town area. Each bar seems to have a specialty, and of course the bar called Friends airs old Friends TV shows continuously on multiple TVs around the walls. The patrons spread out on raised platforms covered with bamboo mats and foot high tables to laze around, drink beer, and OD on TV. Fortunately our guesthouse was outside of the main town and located by the river, so we chilled out in their open air restaurant which was built out to the edge of the Nam Xong watching the water flow, watching the locals coming to the river for their evening wash and teeth brushing, watching the “Japanese Cows” and their trailers of cargo forge the river to bypass the toll bridge, and of course sipping on a Beerlao or two. We did venture into town on occasion, mainly for internet access, and even sat and watched Little Brittan for a couple of hours one day, but that was the extent of our TV at this stop. Our bungalow didn’t even have a TV or phone!
Our planned two day stopover turned into six days, and we really don’t have much to write about our activities. This was simply a “chill” period with D lazing in a hammock near the river catching up on some reading, J doing some journals while sitting in the restaurant sipping a beer and recovering from a cold picked up in Vientiane, walking through the country side and along the river, and simply enjoying the scenery.
The best way to explain it is to refer you to picture numbers 15 through 30 in our Laos tab. The river is the cleanest we have seen since we have been in Asia, and we even swam in it which is saying something. We won’t let water from most rivers, streams, canals, lakes, puddles, etc. here even get near our skin let alone jump into it. Other than the draw of the river, there are fantastic hills that surround the area. This is not a mountain range, but instead they are limestone hills that seem to pop up individually in the middle of fields and are full of caves that can be explored. Some caves even have pools that you can swim in. The hills reminded us of Guilin, China which we visited 15 years ago, and Halong Bay east of Hanoi which we visited less than a month prior.
Our one big outing came the last full day we were there and we decided we “couldn’t not” go tubing down the river. The agenda is a tuk-tuk loads up with a group of about ten people and their tubes, drives you about six kilometers upstream, and you float back down to the starting point in town. The theory goes that it will take two to three hours to float down without many stops, so if you leave at noon you will be back in mid afternoon. The reality is that there are many bars along this short stretch of river where you can stop for a cold Beerlao. Many of these bars are built in front of deep holes in the river where they have erected swings and zip lines, some 30 feet or more above the waterline, for the drunken fools to try and outdo each other. In addition, there are many entrepreneurs who have set up shop with a case of beer on a large rock in the middle of the river. You simply paddle up and exchange 10,000 kip (one US buck) for a big bottle of Beerlao, and continue your float downstream. The result is the tubing company collects a small fortune in “fines” for anyone that turns their tube in after 6:00 PM. We didn’t meet anyone who made it down in time without having to catch a tuk-tuk for the last couple of kilometers to beat the clock. We joined some of them in the tuk-tuk!
We did just beat the 6:00 PM deadline thanks to the tuk-tuk, but we were just slightly worse off for wear. Now we needed to rest up for the bus ride the next morning.
Next stop Luang Prabang.
